Every Tuesday I’ll be discussing a random book of my Goodreads TBR list. I’ll post the synopsis and why I’ve added it on my list. The real question is, should I read it or just let it go?

Harry Potter: A History of Magic is the official book of the exhibition, a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between Bloomsbury, J.K. Rowling and the brilliant curators of the British Library. It promises to take readers on a fascinating journey through the subjects studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – from Alchemy and Potions classes through to Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. Each chapter showcases a treasure trove of artefacts from the British Library and other collections around the world, beside exclusive manuscripts, sketches and illustrations from the Harry Potter archive. There’s also a specially commissioned essay for each subject area by an expert, writer or cultural commentator, inspired by the contents of the exhibition – absorbing, insightful and unexpected contributions from Steve Backshall, the Reverend Richard Coles, Owen Davies, Julia Eccleshare, Roger Highfield, Steve Kloves, Lucy Mangan, Anna Pavord and Tim Peake, who offer a personal perspective on their magical theme. Readers will be able to pore over ancient spell books, amazing illuminated scrolls that reveal the secret of the Elixir of Life, vials of dragon’s blood, mandrake roots, painted centaurs and a genuine witch’s broomstick, in a book that shows J.K. Rowling’s magical inventions alongside their cultural and historical forebears. This is the ultimate gift for Harry Potter fans, curious minds, big imaginations, bibliophiles and readers around the world who missed out on the chance to see the exhibition in person. (Source)

I’ve added this book because I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter but I heard so many mixed reviews of it which is why I’m not sure whether or not I should spend about €20 on this. So what do you guys think? Should I add this one to my collection of Harry Potter books or should I just forget about it?

Review copy provided by HarperTeen in exchange for a honest review, thank you

Scary things and amazing things coexist.
The world is full of wildness and wonder. And a lot of it is good.

Synopsis

There are two monsters in this story. One of them is me.

Ask anyone in Winship, Maine, and they’ll tell you the summer camp Quinn’s family owns is a magical place. Paper wishes hang from the ceiling. Blueberries grow in the dead of winter. According to local legend, a sea monster even lurks off the coast. Mostly, there’s just a feeling that something extraordinary could happen there.

Like Quinn falling in love with her best friend, Dylan.

After the accident, the magic drained from Quinn’s life. Now Dylan is gone, the camp is a lonely place, and Quinn knows it’s her fault.

But the new boy in town, Alexander, doesn’t see her as the monster she believes herself to be. As Quinn lets herself open up again, she begins to understand the truth about love, loss, and monsters—real and imagined.

What I think of it

This book absolutely broke my heart in a million pieces.

Quinn lost her best friend Dylan last year due to a tragic accident and blames herself for what happened. As much as she’s hurting she decides to fix the boat that was at the accident, which helps her heal. She meets someone new and has to face the monster she thinks she has become ever since the accident.

I really loved the chapters where you go back a year ago to the summer where Dylan was still alive, it felt really personal.
The fact that Quinn is quite an original character (she loves marine biology for example) made it even better.
Wild blue wonder shows what it is like to lose a close friend and how hard it is to cope when that person is gone.

This is a great book, so if you love emotional contemporary stories that will rip your heart apart, please pick this up. It’s so worth it

Review copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a honest review, thank you!

Synopsis

Ella Black seems to live the life most other seventeen-year-olds would kill for . . .

Until one day, telling her nothing, her parents whisk her off to Rio de Janeiro. Determined to find out why, Ella takes her chance and searches through their things.

And realises her life has been a lie.

Her mother and father aren’t hers at all. Unable to comprehend the truth, Ella runs away, to the one place they’ll never think to look – the favelas.

But there she learns a terrible secret – the truth about her real parents and their past. And the truth about a mother, desperate for a daughter taken from her seventeen years ago

What I think of it

Normally when I get an ARC I always finish the book no matter how bad it is, but this time I just couldn’t finish it. It’s written very poorly which made me laugh sometimes, yes it’s THAT bad.

In the book we follow Ella Black, which is in my opinion the biggest bitch and ungrateful piece of .. I ever met (I’m not even sorry). She thinks the world turns around her and actually wants her parents to get divorced, with no solid reason why whatsoever.

For some reason the author decided that having a mental illness is a good excuse for animal abuse. Yes you have read this right, at some point Ella ends up killing a bird with a hammer, like?? At this point I just felt anger and disappointment that an author actually thought this would be a good idea to put in a young adults book without any warning whatsoever. I just decided to stop reading.

It upsets me because it doesn’t only puts people with a mental illness in a bad light but also people who are adopted.